3 times a captain was ruled out before the start of an IPL season
Rishabh Pant's accident shocked the entire cricketing fraternity and it's a huge relief to everyone that he's safe and starting his road to recovery. However, his injury is such that he has been ruled out of competitive cricket for a fair while and it'll mean that he will miss IPL 2023.
Aside from his batting and wicket-keeping, the Capitals will also miss Pant's captaincy ahead of IPL 2023 as he will be a hard player to replace.
🤗
Speedy recovery, Rishabh 💙🤗
With you, always 🫶 https://t.co/dgeSwQtM4u
However, this isn't the first time a team has lost a captain ahead of an IPL season and there have been a few instances of teams soldiering on despite missing their captain. Let's take a look at three such instances.
#3 Steve Smith (Rajasthan Royals) - IPL 2018
The Rajasthan Royals were dealt a huge blow after the infamous ball-tampering scandal of 2018 that saw Steve Smith and David Warner banned from playing in that season of the IPL. The Royals had only just retained the then-Australian skipper for ₹12 crores, announcing him as the captain of their side.
However, following the ban, the Royals appointed Ajinkya Rahane as the captain of the side, with Heinrich Klaasen taking Smith's place in the squad. They ended up having a decent season as they qualified for the playoffs, finishing fourth on the points table courtesy of a stellar showing from Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer.
Smith returned to the Royals, regained his captaincy after a few matches in IPL 2019, and remained the skipper until the end of IPL 2020.
#2 David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad) - IPL 2018
Another player involved in the ball-tampering scandal, David Warner was arguably a bigger miss for his franchise than Steve Smith was. Warner is one of the most successful batters in IPL history and was instrumental to the success SRH had.
Both his batting and his captaincy seemed irreplaceable but the advent of Kane Williamson helped cover for Warner. The New Zealand captain performed remarkably well as both a captain and a batter, winning the Orange Cap and helping the team finish at the top of the league and as the eventual runners-up.
Warner returned to the top of the order for IPL 2019 and did so with a bang, winning the Orange Cap despite missing the last few games of the season. He captained SRH in IPL 2020 and for the first half of IPL 2021 before poor results resulted in him losing his captaincy. The Aussie now plies his trade for the Delhi Capitals.
#1 Shreyas Iyer (Delhi Capitals) - IPL 2021
The Delhi Capitals were dealt a huge blow ahead of IPL 2021, with skipper Shreyas Iyer being ruled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury. Aside from his batting, the team also missed his captaincy, with Shreyas leading them to back-to-back playoffs in IPL 2019 and IPL 2020, with DC making the finals in IPL 2020.
The franchise named Rishabh Pant as the captain to replace him and the wicket-keeper did an excellent job at the helm. The Capitals finished at the top of the points table before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the tournament being postponed indefinitely.
The break allowed Shreyas to recover and return to the playing XI in September 2021, but Pant remained the captain.
Despite finishing at the top of the points table, DC lost back-to-back playoff games and didn't make the final. The Capitals released Shreyas Iyer ahead of the 2022 mega-auction and he was picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders, who he now leads.